XY:A:S4
by B1ockh3d
Summary: A male Siren is impossible, so how does one exist? And why does every Siren think it's a good idea to go to Pandora? Circa: 1 year after Handsome Jack, First person perspective, T for mild language, and a collaboration with my friend Aeroxx1337
1. Chapter 1

XY:A:S4

Chapter 1

By B1ockh3d & Aeroxx1337

My name is XY:A:S4. Well, that is what the tattoo on my right wrist says. I have no clue what my real name is, or what those letters and the number are. But most people, of which I know very few, call me Aphyx. I am… 24 Earth years old. At least, that is what my caretakers said. Ah, right, my caretakers. Or rather, they are prison guards. I say that because they never let me outside of the home I was in. I only got out every once in awhile, but my caretakers had to be with me at all times and I had to cover all my stripe birthmarks running up and down my body, stopping at my chin. I had to start doing that when that happened.

My caretakers never wanted to discuss it with me. All I know is that I am a "Siren" and apparently everyone fears Sirens… For… No particular reason. Well, none that I am aware of. My caretakers were nice enough to me to tell me a little, like how Sirens are not commonly male, and that there are only six known.

Is being a Siren a curse? Are all Sirens girls? Why does it repel people?

Oh, sorry. You probably have no idea what that is.

* * *

I was 13 years old at the time, and my caretakers finally decided that they should let me go outside of the house for once! Not alone of course.

My caretakers took me to a local restaurant and we ate a lovely Earth meal of something called… Cakepans? Or was it Pancakes? It was some funny name like that. Whatever it was, it was delicious.

"Hey, I will be right back." I informed my caretakers.

"Where are you going?!" one of my caretakers demanded.

I pointed to the restroom, "I am just going to wash up."

"Oh." They both shrugged, not thinking twice about it. They can see the bathrooms, and what are the odds I was going to get hurt?

I made my way over to the bathroom and began washing my hands. This syrup stuff was really sticky.

I then felt a hand grasp my shoulder. I figured it was one of my caretakers checking in on me, to make sure I did not escape or something strange like that. I ignored it and shrugged the hand off my shoulder.

Then, I heard a deep voice unlike I knew, and he mumbled something about a "bounty" and "reward." I turned off the water and looked in the mirror. There were four people, grimily dressed, completely dirty, and armed to the teeth with various weapons. I can already tell this will not end well.

"…E…Excuse me…" I whimpered as I tried to exit the door, being blocked by the largest person in the group. I tried to squeeze past and he grabbed me by the arm and spun me around.

"Hmm... About 13, dark blue hair, glowing blue. Yep. It's him."

"H…Help!" I screamed, hoping my caretakers would come get me, "HEL-"

The big guy smacked me across the face with his gun, knocking me to the ground. I saw a guy pull out a shotgun and point it at me, then it was lowered by another guy with a machete.

"No. He's not worth the ammo. He isn't even armed, we can take him out the fun way!"

Everyone put away their guns and pulled out some sort of blunt or sharp objects; a metal pipe, a machete, a combat knife, and their bare fists.

I was still trying to recover from the blow I received, when they all charged at and started pummeling me.

"S-s-stop i-it…" I stuttered. They continued. Oh god, the pain of a thousand blows to my body and stabs everywhere. I just want it to… Just want it to… To-

"STOP!" I screamed. Suddenly, everything was in this purple-ish haze. The guys who were beating me were blown back, and the strangest part of it, they were frozen in midair. I noticed how my birthmark stripes were now glowing blue.

"W-what happened?" I begged to myself. I ignored my own question and took this ample time to escape the bathroom, right as the purple haze went away and all the people in the bathroom fell down with a nice big thud.

I saw my caretakers start moving again, and their eyes moved over to my bruised, bloodied body that had just appeared out of thin air. They knew what happened.

* * *

My caretakers explained to me what I did, something called phasestop, where I could stop time for a brief moment, and still move around to escape, or do other things. I suppose it could be quite useful, but my caretakers never taught me how to use it. It was only that one time that I used it, and they never taught me it because they said I did not need to know it. But I am not stupid, they obviously do not want me using it.

Anyways, back to the present. I ran away from my cozy planet called A:PH:1XA, but I called it Aphyxia. That is also where my self-proclaimed name came from. I have left the planet and my caretakers without them knowing and I went to another Galaxy and I am now on the planet "Pandora."

* * *

"Good god… Does this road end?" I complained. I have been walking down this same damn road for the last two days! I had to turn camp in a cave so I would not get attacked by Rakks or Skags last night, and I will probably end up doing the same thing tonight. I am glad I brought a lot of water.

After some hours of more walking, I found a camp! An actual camp, with people, shacks, medicine, and heat! I hoped the people there were friendly. It would be nice to see a friendly face after such a long time. As long as my birthmarks are covered, they should not fear me.

I walked into this camp with poorly written signs and shacks that were put together half-assed and blood freaking everywhere. What the hell? These were the suburbs of Pandora? What were the people like? Uneducated psychopaths?

I hear some unusual laughter coming from behind me. I turn around, and, well, I was right about one thing. Psychopaths!

This… Masked guy ran after me with a bloody ax followed by three of his identical buddies.

"I'm gonna make you my meat puppet!" one of these psychopaths shouted at me. I do not need to be told twice to run. I ran to the center of their little town, because they are blocking my only path out of the town.

I ducked behind a purple barrel, hoping they would not see me and I could slip out undetected. I heard another cackling voice behind me, and it was a higher pitch. I turned my head and I spotted a miniature psychopath with a shotgun. He shoots, misses, and hits the purple barrel right next to me; which explodes, covering me in purple goo.

"Oh my god… What the hell is all this?" I questioned, forgetting about the midget with a shotgun. He shot again, nailing my arm.

I started to get that feeling again, I do not want that to happen to me again!

I suppressed my feelings, clutch my wound, and I ball up and hope he misses me. Suddenly, the midget collapses right in front of me. Then all the other psychopaths started to drop like flies. I clutched myself again. What was happening? Why are they all dying? What is going to happen to me next? I never learned how to protect myself…

"Hey, you," Someone asked.

"Me?" I asked, without looking up.

"Yeah. Are you alright?" he asked back.

I shook my head, "No. But… You should probably leave…"

"Not without you. I doubt you could survive another group of Psychos."

I looked up for the first time. I saw this military looking, very well built man, obviously very strong and powerful.

"Name's Pax."


	2. Chapter 2

XY:A:S4

Chapter 2

By B1ockh3d & Aeroxx1337

"Uh… I-I am XY:A:S4…" I sputtered, not really thinking.

Pax looked at me funny, "And that means?"

"I am not sure…" I continued.

"Well, XY:A- whatever. Got a nickname, or at least something easier for us to remember?" Pax asked.

"U-us?"

"Oh, yeah. My friend Aero is up on the hill. He's the guy that sniped the  
Psychos. So, nickname?"

"Oh… Uh, call me Aphyx." I nodded.

Pax shrugged, "I've heard weirder. Anyways, Aphyx, what's in your arsenal?"

"Uhm… Arsenal?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow, "How long have you been on Pandora?"

"Two days."

"Two days? Surviving on Pandora without a gun for more than an hour is impressive, but you've lasted two damn days? Jesus." Pax shook his head. I stared at him, unsure what to say, "I suppose you don't need to have survived if you registered at a New-U."

"A what?"

"Oh my God…" Pax sighed, "Get up. There's a few things you need to do if you want to keep that living streak going."

* * *

I followed Pax up a hill until we reached a little outcropping. A rather tall person wearing a black tactical outfit and a balaclava pulled himself off the ground, adjusting the sniper rifle he had strapped across his chest.

"Aero, Aphyx. Aphyx, Aero." Pax quickly introduced.

"Uhh… Thanks for saving me." I shrugged awkwardly.

"Yeah. What the hell were you thinking?" Aero asked as he removed his balaclava, revealing his short blond hair, "Going into a Psycho camp unarmed?"

"Oh, that's not the worst of it." Pax began, "He isn't linked to a New U, and he doesn't have a shield."

Aero cupped his face in his hand, "What the hell were you thinking when you came to Pandora? That this was gonna be a nice vacation with big luxury hotels? Hate to tell ya kid, but you jumped outta heaven and fell right into hell. Welcome to Pandora!"

"I… Um… Ah…"

"Aero, lay off! Look, can you heal him? He got pegged in the arm pretty bad, and I'm out of insta-heals." Pax asked. Aero sighed, and began looking at the wound.

"Ehh, I have an insta-heal." Aero nodded, and pulled out a pink vile from behind him. He reached for my arm, and began taking off my left arm protection.

I stopped him, "N-No! Do not touch that!"

"If you don't get this healed it'll get infected. Pandoran infections, like everything else on this Godforsaken rock, are the worst in the universe. On most planets you get the sniffles, maybe get a little fever, or some mild diarrhea. On Pandora, you're lucky if you only lose most of your limbs from gangrene." Aero said without hesitation.

"What if you are unlucky?" I blurted before I could stop myself.

"If you're unlucky, then you get rakkpox. If you get rakkpox, you get a fever, diarrhea, severe anemia, extremely volatile pus filled blisters over 75% of your body, cluster headaches, your dick falls off, and you get a really bad toothache."

"A...Eh... Exaggerate much?" I struggled to make sense of what Aero just described, "Come on, how would you know that?"

"Well why the hell wouldn't I? I met you less than 5 minutes ago, why would you know what I-"

Pax quickly cut in, "Right. Aphyx, this is Aero Grillos. He's a bit of a prick, and he tends to talk a lot, but you get used to it."

"Er- Right. Sorry. Show me your wound there so that I can jam this half inch needle into it." Aero muttered, flicking the cheap looking needle.

"Can you inject it through my leg or something?"

Aero nodded, "In theory, I could. In theory, you could have been shot in the leg instead of the arm, so it would make more sense then jamming a needle into your leg to fix your arm."

"Just- please? I'd really prefer if you injected it into my leg instead." I pleaded.

He sighed, "Sure, whatever."

I pulled up my right pant leg, where there were no tattoos. Aero injected the painful vile in me, and my wound healed instantly, "Thank you."

"It's my job." Aero nodded, and turned to Pax, "Where'd you park the technical?"

"Oh, uhh… It kinda… Met a Goliath." Pax scratched the back of his head.

Aero sighed, "The nearest catch-a-ride isn't for another two miles!"

"Well, what was I supposed to do?" Pax argued.

"Kill the Goliath!" Aero answered, "It would've been easier if you hadn't decided to pick the catapult!"

"It does more damage than the saw blades!" Pax bickered.

"Guys!" I shouted, "One of you walk to this…"

"Catch-a-ride?"

"Yes, and drive back to pick us up." I completed. The two had a short round of rock-paper-scissors, and Aero ended up walking.

Pax sat down with me, "So… What brought you to Pandora?"

"I wanted to escape." I answered, "Escape the planet I was kept in, escape the house I was locked in. Anywhere was better than there."

"Well, I beg to differ." Pax looked around, then back at me, "Why were you bottled up on your planet?"

"Uhh… Because… No one liked me." I nodded awkwardly, "Yeah…"

"Uh-huh. And that's the reason you were bottled up? C'mon, there is something more. That's a real pointless reason to be shoved in a hole for all of your life."

"Umm… I can not say."

"Oh, so there IS something more." Pax pried.

"Uhm… No. Nope. Nothing. Nothing at all. Where is your friend? Where is Aero? Should he not be here by now?"

"Why did you want to leave your home?" Pax prodded. I kept ignoring him.

"Wow, will he make it before night falls? I do not want to deal with Skags or Rakks tonight."

Right then, Aero pulled up in this big suv-looking thing, "Hey! I was wrong. There was one around the corner. Hop in!" Pax jumped into the gunner seat, leaving me sitting in the back.

* * *

"How the hell did you even do this?" Pax shouted, staring at the car that Aero somehow managed to get stuck vertically under a bridge.

"Damn bridge cut me off..." Aero muttered as he silently kicked a rock on the ground.

"How does a bridge 'cut you off'?" I questioned.

"Well it... I... Shut up." Aero lowered his head.

"You can accomplish anything if you're too stupid to know it's impossible, I suppose..." Pax mused as he tried in vain to knock the car loose. After a few minutes and no progress whatsoever, he relented, "So, who's up for some walking?"

"No, no, I am sure you can punch it free. You are just not trying hard enough!" I deadpanned.

"They're actually designed to be easily moved if you just give 'em a good whack, but apparently Aero has managed to get is stuck so perfectly that it won't budge." Pax gave it a final kick, then turned to walk away. I started following him, but noticed that Aero was still by the car.

"What is he doing?" I asked.

Pax turned around and looked back in his direction, "What is he- Why's he throwing all that stuff in the gunner's seat?" We watched for a moment, then Aero jogged over to us.

"You still have that Tediore rocket launcher, right?" Pax nodded in reply, "Can I see it for a second?" Pax raised an eyebrow, then somehow pulled a rocket launcher out of his leg and handed it to Aero.

Before I could ask what the hell just happened, Aero fired a shot into the sky. He then pointed the launcher at the car and shot the entire rocket launcher at it.

"...Because screw logic." I puzzled at firing a rocket launcher. Just before the rocket launcher hit I saw what Aero had put in the car. It was filled with various gun types, every single one of which simultaneously exploded as the launcher collided with the car and exploded for no clear reason. The combined explosive power of the car and the dozen or so guns inside of the car created enough force to blow apart the bridge, sending pieces flying all over.

"What the hell did you put in that thing?" Pax asked as he casually shot a piece of the bridge out of the air.

"Every single Tediore weapon I own." Aero replied, handing the rocket launcher that had suddenly formed in his hands back to Pax.

"...Whaat? Guns do not usually... Respawn?" I observed the wreckage. I noticed a big part of the turret arch its way into a field and smash into a big, pink, fleshy looking thing. The pink thing started to pulse as a few blue creatures crawled out of it.

Pax's eyes widened, "Oh crap! Stalkers!" He jammed the rocket launcher back into his leg and pulled out a combat rifle. Aero swung the sniper rifle and started firing at the blue things, which were charging at us rather quickly. Their bullets seemed to stop inches before hitting them, disappearing in blue sparks.

Pax scrambled to pull something out of his leg, and pulled out a red gun with angry teeth and an unusually large clip leeching off it. He threw it over to me, "Stay alive!"

I attempted to grab to gun and aim it at the same time, "W-what do I do?"

"Point the gun and PULL THE TRIGGER!" Aero yelled at me, shooting another stalker.

They both started running, and I chased after them, "Aphyx! Behind you!"

I whipped around and saw this weird blue quadrupedal bat-scorpion... thing jumping right at me. I jumped out of the way and started wildly firing at it with the pistol. Needless to say, I missed every shot. It leapt at me again but it spontaneously exploded in mid-air, which was rather convenient. I decided not to question this and started firing wildly at the small horde as it suddenly disappeared.

"Where did they just go?!" I shouted forward to Pax, who was still firing as he ran.

"Keep running!" He shouted in response.

I turned around and ignored what just happened and tried to catch up with Pax and Aero, when one of those Stalkers appeared in front of me.

I immediately halted and turned around. Another one was there. Running on either side would have been counter-productive. I aimed at the one that was in my path and I fired a few bullets from my pistol. The Stalker smoothly dodged the bullets and ran faster toward me.

The two closed in. I suddenly felt trapped, like everything had suddenly closed in on me at once. I felt like I was back at the diner.

I covered my face, and I could feel the Stalkers swiping me "Agh!"

Pax turned around and started shooting, "Punch back!"

I was too stiff to think about retaliating. In a second it started again. All the noise around me began to distort, everything seemed to have a delay compared to what I felt. Then everything stopped and went silent. When I finally opened my arms, there was that familiar purple filter. I noticed the two Stalkers frozen in place, and took this opportunity to run.

I ran over to where Aero and Pax were, reaching them just as everything began to move again. Before everything got back up to full speed I turned around and fired at the Stalkers as an afterthought. It worked, because the bullets killed the two that had been near me just as everything eased back into its normal speed.

I was relieved for about half a second before I realized that this meant 7 very angry and very fast things were going to be ripping out my spleen in just a moment.

"Pax! Shock grenade, now!" Aero shouted about a second after Pax had already thrown it. The grenade exploded, sending a small wave of electricity that hit maybe one Stalker.

"...That was your big finale?"

"Wait for it!"

Suddenly 8 more grenades burst from the epicenter of the blast and rocketed over to each Stalker and latched on. They went off, frying the one caught in the initial blast and the unlucky one that got two grenades stuck to him. All the rest lost their blue shimmer and were rendered unable to cloak.

Aero threw another grenade into the chaos. It burst open, pulling all of the remaining Stalkers together in a singularity before spontaneously combusting and exploding at the same time. Large charred chunks of blue and green flesh spread out everywhere and at least 6 different guns fell out of the annihilated corpses.

I chose not to question that last part.

"Now," Pax turned to me, pocketing a pistol and an assault rifle, "How did you go from being trapped between two Stalkers, to being in front of us?"

"I…Ran over here." I truthfully nodded, as they calmly walked over to me.

"There is no way you just ran away from there. That isn't a situation one runs away from. That is a situation one is dragged away from, bleeding from every major organ simultaneously." Aero stated.

"And a split second, no less. You'd have to have teleportation powers, or something freaky like that. Which is strange, that seems like a power a Siren would have."

"A Sire-" the two looked quizzically over at me.

My heart stopped, "A Siren, heh? Eh, what is that?"

"Uh-huh. Of course you don't know what a Siren is. Frankly I'd sooner believe you are the Universe's first male Siren then that you haven't heard about the people that can access another dimension." Aero said, "Take off the hood. And show us your left arm while you're at it."

"Eh... Come on guys..."

"Come on, show us," Pax encouraged, "What are you afraid of?"

"Uhh... If I say no?"

"Then I will shoot you. Repeatedly."

"Alright! Fine!" I whipped off my hood, exposing my short, messy dark blue hair, "Will this do?"

Aero pointed to my face and motioned for me to remove the bandages.

"Ugh..." I sighed. I dipped my head down, and carefully peeled off my bandages from around my left eye and mouth. I unzipped the left sleeve of my shirt and let it slide down to the ground. I look up and reveal my computer-chip face.

"…You're a male Siren?!" Pax smiled, "That's freaking awesome! I thought that was impossible!"

"...You do not fear me?"

"What, are you kidding?" Aero shook his head, "This is Pandora. You can't go 10 feet without running into a damn Siren."

I picked up my left sleeve from the sand, "I am a little confused…"

Aero and Pax helped me stand up, "C'mon, let's take you to Sanctuary. There's gonna be a lot of people that will be more than happy to see you."

"Especially Lilith." Pax added, "And Maya."


	3. Chapter 3

XY:A:S4

Chapter 3

By B1ockh3d & Aeroxx1337

I put my armor back on, figuring the next person I meet was probably not going to be as nice as these two. Aero helped me into the back of the truck, and Pax drove to this small house with some sort of console that had an antenna sticking out of it.

Pax helped me out and lead me to this console, "This is a New-U station. You need to register yourself in this thing or you'll actually die when someone inevitably turns your skull into a tacky hood ornament."

"Or use the fast travel." Aero added.

I walked up to the machine, and the thing pricked my thumb, "Ow!"

"Great! You're registered." Pax sighed in relief, "Now, let's go to Sanctuary."

We all piled back into the vehicle and Aero drove the last leg of the journey to another console with a holographic orb with the words "Fast Travel." Pax went to this console; and the next thing I know, I am in a room with a golden chest at the other end.

"Okay, let's get you a shield and a couple weapons for you first." Aero advised. Pax nodded in agreement, and they took me to a knocked over machine that had "Dr. Zed Meds and etc." pasted on it. Pax placed his hand on it and started flicking his hand through the air for some reason. Eventually he stopped and pulled a weird multi-colored... something or other out of his leg.

"This shield should protect you from just about anything. It also shocks anyone who tries to punch you." Pax explained.

I took the device and examined it, turning it over a few times in my hand, "How do I use it?"

Aero sighed, snatched it from my hands, and clipped it on the back of my belt. Then I heard a click, followed by a light whirring sound. "Like that."

"Oh! We should head down to Crazy Earl and get you a backpack SDU." Pax suggested.

"Lot of good it'll do, with how small the damn things are." Aero mumbled, and they guided me down the street to a small building with a purple neon sign reading "Hostel."

"Oh! Before you knock, here," Pax handed me twelve bars of a glowing purple material, "Earl only accepts Eridium as payment. Ask for a backpack and an upgrade."

I took the heavy bars from him, but only barely, "Oof… Why does he not… Accept anything… Lighter?" I pant.

"Normally you just stick it in the inexplicably infinite money slot of a backpack SDU, but you don't have one yet." Pax explained, "Why the thing can hold unlimited amounts of 5 pound ingots but only 27 pistols is beyond me."

I redirected my attention to the door, and I kicked it to knock. A strip of metal slid open and a pair eyes peered out at me.

"Whachu want, chump?!" Earl spat.

I shoved all the Eridium through a slot in the door, "A backpack with an upgrade, please."

He shoved a container-thing out the slot, which I clipped on the back of my belt.

"Sucka!" he chuckled as he closed the slot.

I turned to Pax and Aero, "Uhm… Was I ripped off?"

"No, no. He always does that." Pax answered.

Pax pulled out a shotgun from behind him; it was green, with a black and yellow checkerboard pattern on it, with the word TORGUE inscribed above the trigger, "As you can tell, it's a shotgun. It deals explosive damage, and it does 58 damage times 4. So, 232 damage, provided all the bullets hit."

"…How do you know so much about that specific gun?" I asked.

"…Oh! Dammit! We need to get you an ECHO device too." Pax realized, "…Alright. We'll get you one after we go meet up with Maya and Lilith."

"Yeah… Who are they exactly?" I inquired.

"…You'll see." Aero promises.

* * *

They pulled me around the corner to the Crimson Raider base. As I entered the room I saw a woman wearing goggles on her head, apparently doing something important with two eggplants connected to a battery and a radio.

Pax nudged me, "That's Patricia Tannis. She's… different."

"Wait here. Don't agree to do anything she asks you to, it's more convenient if you still have both of your eyeballs." Aero advised as they both went upstairs.

I looked over at Tannis, who was attempting to attach the battery to the radio using a rusty crochet needle and what looked like a human foot. Confused and curious, I decided to find out what the hell she was doing, "Uhh… Tannis, correct?"

"Not now! I'm busy recording Travis and Kimberly!" She snapped at me, without breaking concentration on her Eggplants.

Alright… I will humor her. I leaned toward the Eggplants, pretended to listen closely, and whispered, "What are they saying?"

"They're arguing. Apparently, Kimberly caught Travis in a cheese dip with a pickle!" Tannis answered, casually removing the pinkie toe from the foot and sticking it in the battery socket of the radio.

I backed up awkwardly, "Oh… I certainly hope they sort it out." I silently noded, and wait for Pax and Aero.

* * *

"Brick, where's Maya and Lilith?" Pax asked.

"Lilith went on some 'secret investigation' and Axton went with her. I'm pretty sure they just wanted to go blow stuff up without me, the bastards. Maya had to go to the Dust to get some parts." Brick answered, "Why?"

"Can you call them back?" Aero quickly asked, "It's important that they get back right now!"

Brick crossed his arms, "Can it wait?"

"They won't want to wait, once they hear about it." Pax explained.

"Well what the hell is it?" Brick demanded.

Pax ran over to the stairs, "Aphyx! Get up here!"

* * *

I ran upstairs and saw a hulking mass of flesh looming in the command room, "Y… Yes?"

"This is our reason, Brick." Aero pointed to me. Brick looked unimpressed.

"What's so special about him that I have to call off a secret mission and stop repairs to Sanctuary?" Brick asked.

Aero gestured to me to take off my armor, "Oh… Uh… Right." I took my armor off to show the glowing symbols going up and down my left side.

Brick looked at the marks, "You're right. That's a damn good reason." He went over to a computer, "Maya, get back to Sanctuary. There's someone here you're gonna wanna meet."

"Alright." Maya answered back.


	4. Chapter 4

XY:A:S4

Chapter 4

By B1ockh3d & Aeroxx1337

Authors note: We're baaaack!

* * *

"Lilith, Axton, you guys need to get back here!" Brick shouted into the microphone.

No response.

"Lilith, Axton, can you hear me?" Brick asked again. Still no response, "Are you guys blowing shit up without me? Dammit!"

This time, the radio crackled. There was gunfire, explosions, and a voice in the background, "Yeah, we're fine. They saw us, so we started burning them alive. You know, the usual. You can come on down if you- shittheradioisonfirecallyouba-"

And the channel went dead.

"Axton! Lilith!" Brick shouted back. There was only white noise, "Dammit… We're missing all the fun! Grab your guns, I'll get my good sledgehammer!"

"I'm always up for a firefight!" Pax smiled excitedly.

"Yeah. Can you guys leave after your meeting with Maya?" Brick asked.

Aero and Pax lightly nodded, and I picked up my armor from the floor and started to slip it on, but a hand stopped me.

"Stop hiding." A woman advised.

I noticed the hand that grabbed my arm was also covered in blue tattoos. I followed the tattooed arm up to a friendly face, who I assumed was "Maya."

"I'm Maya." She formally introduced. Called it.

"Uh, I am XY:A- Uh, Aphyx. Call me Aphyx." I awkwardly presented myself.

"Hey, you got here in a flash." Brick noted.

"Yeah, I was about to come back. I was at Ellie's shop when you called." Maya answered, then started looking me up and down, "If I saw you from across the street, I'd think you'd be one of those crazy fans like Lilith had awhile back."

"…But?"

Maya took a deep breath, "Well, I can tell those aren't tatoos or painted on, which leads me to believe you're really a Siren."

"…Is…that bad?"

"Bad? No. Impossible? Absolutely." Maya started looking me over a second time, "Sirens are all female, altered by alien technology. But the real red flag is that there isn't such a thing as a male Siren."

"Uhh… Okay?"

"Tell me; when you got to Pandora, how did you feel?" Maya asked.

"Fine. Wait, how did you know I am from another planet?"

"Easy. Handsome Jack would've gotten his mitts around you before we killed him a year ago, you don't have an ECHO device, and you're rather uneasy about where you are." Maya elaborated, "But, why did you leave your other planet?"

"I…did not want to be bottled up in my caretakers' home forever. So, I ran away." I stumbled to explain.

"What planet did you come from?" Pax contributed.

"A:PH:1XA. But it is easier to say Aphyxia."

Maya noticeed the tattoo on my wrist, and she picked it up and looked at it, "…XY:A:S4?"

"That is my name." I nodded, and pulled my wrist away.

"Ah. One last question, what can you do? What's your ability?" Maya curiously impeded.

"Uh… Oh. Phasestop." I answered.

"And that is?"

"I can stop time for a brief moment."

"Can you do it right now?" Maya queried.

"Uh… Not on command. I do not know how." I mumbled.

Maya nodded, "I would like you to stay in Sanctuary, however, I think Lilith would love to meet you in the battlefield."

"You're gonna send the idiot who came to Pandora without any guns into the middle of a battlefield?" Aero added, "Yeah, that's not a terrible idea. Not at all."

"That's why I'm assigning you two the task of standing in front of him and getting shot instead." Maya commanded. "Good luck. Try not to lose any limbs this time. And you two better make sure Aphyx comes back in one piece!"

"Of course." Pax and Aero hurried me out the door, into the fast travel, and we were then in a place full of that purple ore, "Welcome to the Eridium Blight."

* * *

Aero spawned and drove a bandit technical, and Pax and I sat in the back.

"You know, maybe I should have stayed in Sanctuary." I started to doubt, "I am not good enough for these missions."

"We can always go back and you can be a guinea pig to Tannis, who will undoubtedly just _love_ testing you." Pax reminded.

_Oh god, not the crazy eggplant lady…_ "Fair point."

We drove for a little while longer, and we reached a sealed gate.

"Huh. That's where the old Hyperion gate was." Aero noted.

"That's definitely a new gate. It wasn't there a week ago." Pax glanced over the needlessly large gate.

Pax and Aero get out, and I joined them. We all started looking for… something or other. I just started looking.

After about a minute, I found some sort of notch in the wall. The rest of the wall was smooth, except this notch.

"Huh." I touched it, and a red laser projected onto me, "…What?"

Pax and Aero ran over, and stopped to keep their distance, "Stay still…"

The laser stopped, and without another word, the gate opened. We spent a moment looking at each other awkwardly, then remembered that the gate we needed to get through is _open,_ and we ran back to the car and entered the place.

"So… How did you do that?" Pax asked, "Because last time those were around, they scanned Hyperion personal. And if you weren't Hyperion, then you were dead."

I mouthed some words, but no sound came out, "Ah…I… I have no clue."

"Whatever you did, it worked. I ain't complaining." Aero shouted from the driver's seat.

"True, true." Pax nods, "Aphyx, can you get yourself into the gunner seat?"

"I can, but I do not know how to use it!" I stressed.

"Can you aim?"

"Yeah."

"Can you pull a trigger?"

"Yeah?"

"Then you can gun. Get up there!"

"If you say so," I climbed up to the gunner seat and position myself. I grabbed two joysticks and looked at a holographic scope, "And?"

"Shoot whatever lines up in your sight." Pax answered. I guess that was a stupid question.

About a minute later, we showed up to a path littered with bodies.

"Hey, isn't that Crimson Lance armor?" Aero shouted out. Pax gets out of the back and walked alongside the car to inspect the bodies.

Pax nods, "Yeah. Didn't they disband though?"

"Yes, they did." Aero hopped out. I tagged along and jumped out of the gunner seat to the ground, and landed on something.

"Ow!"

Aero and Pax came over to my yelp, "What's wro- Ooooh! Jackpot!"

Pax ran over to where I sitting and picked up a radio-looking device, "An ECHO recorder!"

"Play it!" Aero demanded. Pax pressed a button, and a whirring sound began from the machine.

"ECHO number one, Atlas Corporation, experiment ma-" and it cut off.

"…Atlas?" Pax turned the recording over in his hands, "Atlas was shut down years ago."

"Play the rest!" Aero anxiously asked. Pax shook his head.

"The back of it is jacked up. We have to go get it fixed."

I had ignored the beginning of the recording, "…Did anyone catch the end?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Aero asked.

"Experiment. This 'Atlas' corporation is experimenting on something. But what?" I asked. The two looked at me, "And if they are shut down, why is there a radio with their name on it?"

"I have no idea." Pax shrugged.

"Looking for the Vault?" Aero suggested.

"…What is this 'Vault' you guys talk about?" I questioned, remembering when they asked Brick about being a 'Vault Hunter.'

"Wait, you don't know? That's what made Pandora famous." Aero informed, surprised by my lack of knowledge. I shook my head.

"We'll catch you up." Pax got back in the car, followed by us, "So, this is the story of Pandora…"


End file.
